The Lion Has New Claws
The Lion has New Claws is the seventh episode of the lion series of Voltron: Defender of the Universe. Plot Summary One foggy night near the Castle of Lions, someone rows across the lake towards it. Just a few minutes later, an alarm sounds and Keith, Lance, and Pidge awaken; an intruder has invaded the castle. Seeing the shadowed figure, Pidge attacks this unknown unwelcome visitor. However, things get a bit more confusing as the intruder happens to be a woman in her late 40s to early 50s, but they think she is Haggar in disguise. Coran arrives at the scene, and informs them that the lady is Princess Allura's nanny, who asks who these people are. After the less-than-optimal introduction that follows, she explains that she headed for the castle when she heard Voltron came back. (Of course, one must wonder why she did not wait until morning.) Just as the mood of the scene tones down, another alarm sounds, and Keith, Lance, and Pidge head to the control room; it turns out Blue Lion is flying. A voice coming from the speaker reveals that the princess has taken the Lion in an attempt to teach herself to pilot it. Nanny demands that they rescue the princess, so all three take off in their respective Lions. Allura has trouble operating the Lion of water, but Keith instructs her on how to fly it. Blue Lion is flying towards a cliff, and Allura, under Keith's instruction, manages a crash landing. Later, Allura is resting in bed. (Presumably, one of the pilots had flown Blue Lion back to its lair.) The princess gets up and insists on flying Blue Lion, and Coran opposes her. She later speaks to him and Nanny about being Blue Lion's new pilot, yet neither of them yield. Nanny says she will go find a replacement partner for Blue Lion personally. Meanwhile, in Castle Doom, Haggar tells King Zarkon that the Castle of Lions is looking for a replacement for Sven. While the opportunity to strike during this time is still fresh, they decide to deploy a robeast fast while the Force is still one pilot and Lion down. Nanny approaches a small mountain town, when suddenly Yurak's ship fires its mass-adding beam and the robeast appears - a two-eyed, four-horned, 224-ft. people-eater - before it turns to terrorize the village. In response, Hunk and Yellow Lion accompany the others in taking off to meet the threat. Coran confronts Allura and then ties her to a chair to stop her from joining them in the Blue Lion. Yurak is joyful as the lions' attacks are ineffective against the robeast. Back at the castle, the space mice free Allura from her bonds. She changes into her casual pink jumpsuit, and deploys Blue Lion, arriving on the scene quickly. The Voltron Force, now with five lions, waste no time in forming Voltron. Less than a minute later, they decapitate the robeast with the blazing sword. At sunset, Nanny meets with Allura and the rest of the Voltron Force as they gather just next to the mighty robot himself. She protests, but regardless, the Voltron Force has accepted her. Featured Characters Voltron Force *Keith *Lance *Pidge *Princess Allura *Hunk Other Arusians *Coran *Nanny *Space Mice Planet Doom *King Zarkon *Haggar *Yurak Quotes Coran: "The Princess' place is in the Castle." Princess Allura: "My duty is to protect Planet Arus. My place is here, or in the Blue Lion, if that's what it takes! Someone's got to take Sven's place, and that's me! Now unhand me; that's a royal order!" (She was in her bedroom at the time, so she was in partial agreement with Coran. Nevertheless, these statements resulted in her summary spanking courtesy of Nanny.) ***** "You speak often of freedom and liberty for my people, but now you've taken mine away from me!" Princess Allura, whilst being bound to a chair by Coran ***** "Who's flyin' that Blue Lion? It's impossible!" Commander Yurak Notes and Goofs *First appearance of Nanny. *First appearance of the princess's pink flight suit. *This is the first time Pidge is shown to enter the chute leading from the control room to the launch room. (In episodes 4 through 6, only Keith is shown to enter his chute, launch room chute #1, when the lions are deployed.) *At one point, the now-fully-begowned Princess Allura tells both Coran and Nanny that they think they're doing the right thing, but they're wrong, and they both nod in agreement behind her! **This is due to what the Princess Fala had just asked them in the Japanese version: if she were not permitted to fly the Blue Lion under any circumstances. *This is the first time the princess is shown entering Sven's chute, which would become hers from the next episode onwards, to the launch room. *This is the first time Hunk is shown entering launch room chute #5. *This episode is the first time a robeast does not explode upon being killed by the Blazing Sword. **As opposed to its fate in [[The Beautiful Princess' Battle|the original Beast King GoLion material]], wherein it was first beheaded and then cleft in twain. *It would have been grossly negligent for Doom to wait more than a week since Sven was injured to launch another attack. The robeast in this episode is much weaker than the robeast of "Princess Joins Up", because it had to be deployed on short notice. *The robeast was apparently tall enough to step on buildings. Should not Voltron have only been tall enough to reach its knees? **According to Voltron From Days of Long Ago: A Thirtieth Anniversary Celebration, this episode's robeast is the third-tallest encountered thusfar at 224 ft. (one foot shorter than the second-tallest, who was the robeast from A Ghost and Four Keys, and six feet shorter than the tallest, the gladiator from Princess Joins Up). Voltron itself stands at ~200 ft. tall. *How did Keith, Lance, and Pidge disembark from Voltron when he was standing upright? ** A scene in a later episode answers this question. * This episode is one of the only instances when Haggar referred to her cat familiar by the name Cova. Category:Voltron: Defender of the Universe episodes